Critic Reviews

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84

Planet Xbox 360

If competition online and with friends is enough, KoFXII is a blast. Also, XBL is an absolute must, both for satisfying experience and the eventual, hopefully redemptive DLC. King of Fighters XII is a balanced, beautiful game to witness and a fun start for the franchise's next generation, but it absolutely is a case of unfulfilled potential, especially considering it's supposed to be "the year of the fighter."

Should you buy this game? It’s a tough call. Like I said, the game is very fun and has online compatibility, which gives it clear, inherent value. However, there is no shortage of great online-capable fighting games at this point, many of which can be had cheaply. There is a definite lack of content, which leaves the game feeling like a $60 downloadable title. Still, this is King of Fighters, the fun incarnate. The way it works out, the game is a good pickup for fighting game fans. All the cosplayers and people who try to translate the Japanese tie-in mangas will be frustrated, but people who buy the game to grind out combos, study the gameplay mechanisms and become a tourney-level player will be the ones who get their money’s worth.

As it stands, it just about holds its own, but if you don't have broadband or fighting-fan friends, it's over in the blink of an eye. If your fighting game sweet tooth hasn't been satisfied by Street Fighter IV, this colourful pick 'n' mix should do the trick.

All in all, SNK PLAYMORE has more than fulfilled expectations of what would be expected from this series. The artwork of the characters is beautiful. The reworked backgrounds only add to the eye candy. Even though many games are going the 3D fighting route, The King of Fighters has done extremely well by sticking with what works for them. The animations in the background are extremely well done and with a variety of locales to choose from, the controls are relatively easy to learn. The only thing I could find a gripe about was the Online Play. Every match that I competed in seemed to be a bit slow to respond.

If you have a love of fighting games, King of Fighters XII certainly deserves some of your affection. Though the game is lacking from a strictly consumer perspective, there's lots of value is in the fighting itself. King of Fighters XII is a successful rebirth, but it's clear that the series still has plenty of growing to do.

Sadly, while King of Fighters XII shows shades of brilliance now and then the game manages drops the ball a few times too many. It is presented with astounding visuals, incredible animations and entertaining characters, but they feel out of place in a bare bones title. The game’s lack of fighting mechanics and the limited amount of gameplay modes tarnishes the essence of the single player mode. SNK’s first true foray into the next-gen market has landed their star fighting franchise in the purgatory of being hellishly average. That being said, I know it could have been a lot worse.

While the game is a bit thin on play modes and the online battles are a complete write-off at the moment, the fundamental gameplay is still fun and true to the series. The new mechanics make for exciting, momentum-turning fights that are equal parts frenetic and tactical. The game looks great and plays well – it’s a shame that the current netcode is a complete mess. Once that gets cleared up, you have a very satisfying brawler that is a fine installment to the King of Fighters lineage.

Overall, your experience with KOF XII will largely depend on how much you value online play in your fighters. If you are a regular on the BlazBlue and Street Fighter leaderboards, then the online experience that KOF XII has is definitely worth the price of the game. The strategic elements of the battle system and gorgeous graphics certainly make the game itself very fun and a pleasure to look at. Just having one single-player offline mode really hampers the overall experience if you aren't an online aficionado. Still, if you do like playing online, then this King can't be beat!

The core game is spectacular, even if the presentation framing it is awful, and it's got the potential to be well worth the money. So should you buy it? That depends on what's most important to you, but I'm going to say you most certainly should.

The biggest problem with The King of Fighters XII is that it feels unfinished. The combat is fun and robust but not particularly innovative. The Critical Counter system feels like an afterthought and doesn't really compare favourably to Street Fighter IV's Focus Attack or BlazBlue's Drive System. Also, whether because of time constraints or an attempt at accessibility, many of the characters feel a tad diluted. So with Capcom offering more accessibility and Arc System more innovation, it would be hard to recommend XII to casual or hardcore fighter fans that might only have time for one game. It'll be interesting to see what SNK can achieve with a little more time. "Are you okkkayyyy!?!" Yes, but you could've done better mister wolf.

In the end, KOF XII is a well-made, but altogether lacking and incomplete experience. The kind of game that, if it was in a multi-game collection, would probably get played a few times and then you’d quickly move onto the newer installments afterwards because it’s too bare-bones to offer long-term play. Right now, there’s way too little here to recommend a full-price purchase to anyone. Die-hards should only buy it when it hits the $20-30 range, and everyone else will likely be satiated by a rental. What’s here is done quite well, but there just isn’t enough of it.

King of Fighters XII is not a bad game; it just came out at a bad time. The re-birth of the franchise really feels like ten steps backwards, and it wouldn't be so bad if the competition wasn't so stiff right now. The template is now laid out for the series, and hopefully we can continue to see improvements over the next few chapters. DLC would do wonders for fans wanting new characters, but I think it is more likely we will see a new version of the game released before that happens. As it stands if you are a huge KoF fan I cannot deter you from purchasing this, you probably already have, but at $60 it just doesn't deliver enough to warrant a recommendation over the other games already out.

The vibrant colors are appealing, but these vast stages lack the intimate details that gave the old ones so much character. Some stages even feature lighting effects, and while that's certainly novel for a 2D fighter, it can make it hard to see what's going on. I don't mind having fewer fighters to select from, but why only five stages!? C'mon now! The arcade mode is disappointing because instead of competing for points, you try to complete five rounds in the least amount of time. Perhaps this was necessitated by the game's modest number of stages? In addition, the default "normal" CPU difficulty is far too easy for King of Fighters fans. SNK must have focused their efforts on the on-line mode, because the off-line content is positively skimpy. At its core, King of Fighters XII gets the job done, but I was expecting more.

The King of Fighters XII gives us everything we’ve come to expect from the long and storied franchise: Six hand-drawn fighters per match meeting with basic arcade-style fighting, all set around hand-drawn backgrounds. Problem is, the aesthetics are disconcerting. The backgrounds tend to be very different artistically from the characters, and most of the time they’re way too busy. Even if we wanted to focus on the somewhat dull and awkwardly controlled battle at hand, it’s rendered almost impossible by the huge amount of animation in the background. Throw that on top of slow-moving and uninteresting characters, and you’ve got a brawler that hasn’t gotten the polish a truly good fighter needs.

King of Fighters XII is just not ambitious enough of a project. If this were a highly successful series with millions of sales, maybe SNK could get away with this middling revival of classic action. But a lot of the love of the classic games has been squandered in this half-hearted attempt to fix what, for the most part, wasn't broken. I do hope that this isn't the end for King of Fighters and that SNK goes back to the drawing board to deliver the best game in the series yet.

KOF XII is an overall decent fighter at its core, but it doesn't have much to offer for either hardcore or new fans to stick with it for long. The single player experience is very forgettable. The game's saving grace could easily be the online mode, but, at the moment, the online portion is plagued with slowdown that happens often. If you want to enjoy playing the game locally with a friend or want to play the single player then the game might be worth a try but a fighting game fan that is looking for a fresh fighting game experience with an online KOF will only find wasted potential in what could have been (and might still be one day) a decent online fighter.

So when it’s all said and done, The King of Fighters XII isn’t going to be placed on a mantle above all other fighting games. It lacks proper net code and not everyone is going to enjoy the pixilated graphics. At the price point of Ł40, KoF XII is a hard sell to anyone outside of the fanbase. Hardcore fans will enjoy it for what it is – a game that tries to stay true to its roots – but everyone else will be scratching their heads wondering why they should convert over from their current fighting series of choice.

I can’t help but feel a little disappointed with King of Fighters XII. While the overall 2D presentation of battles is impressive, the rest of the game is lacking in actual content. With a slowly dwindling online circle and no real rewards for pumping hours into the offline mode, King of Fighters XII has been added to a pile of fighters that just can’t compete with other fighters already out. With a little extra love in the practice mode, some online love and character development, KoFXII could have been a charming fighter for old and new fans alike.

At the price point of $60, The King of Fighters XII is a hard sell to anyone outside of the fanbase. Renting or borrowing is the best entry point for the series as a blind purchase may lead to one angry gamer.

The King of Fighters XII is a real let down, and fans of the series will be disappointed at the somewhat lack of effort that has gone into this game. Moreover, the game feels like it should have been released as a download on the Playstation Network, rather than coming out as a retail game. I honestly can’t think of a good enough reason why you’d want to pick up KOF when there are more exciting games in the genre available.

I did enjoy the single player matches I played. I enjoyed playing it for about thirty minutes, winning the five matches and being crowned King of Fighters. Then I wondered what I did next. I hoped for more from this game and unfortunately it didn’t deliver. Die-hard fighting game fans only need apply.

Overall King of Fighters XII has been a bit of a disappointment, with the release Mark of Garou on Xbox LIVE recently we remember how good this franchise was, sadly number XII does not live up to it. Oh well, we can always hope for lucky number XIII.

Back to the initial question – where does King of Fighters XII fit into this resurrection? It doesn’t, really. Although a competent beat ‘em up, it lacks not only the accesibility but the depth of Street Fighter IV, the classic gameplay of Mark of the Wolves or Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and the hardcore technical side of Blazblue. It sort of stumbles around in the middle, giving hardcore fans a bunch of new techniques to try out, then diluting everything from the characters moves lists all the way to the poor Arcade mode. Perhaps we’ve been spoiled? 2009 has been a great year for fighting games, so far. Unfortunately for this, the first next-gen King of Fighters, there simply isn’t room for any mediocre ones. Go back to 2008, where you belong!

KOFXII's biggest problem is that the fighting game bar has been raised considerably in the last 12 months, with the release of Street Fighter IV in particular showing how reboots should be done. The single-player features won't keep anyone's attention for more than half an hour, and the ropey online only exacerbates this problem. The new redrawn art style's full of beautiful animations, but the pixels ruin it somewhat. The Critical Counter system is great, but some will say it's not enough of an addition to justify the "rebirth" tagline. In the 90s, KOFXII would have been hailed as a brilliant fighting game. In 2009, in the post Street Fighter IV world, however, it has to go down as a disappointment that won't be of interest to anyone except the most loyal KOF fan.

The fighting at the center of King of Fighters XII is totally fine, but with everything surrounding that action coming off so half-cocked, there are a lot of annoying little barriers to enjoying that fighting. If you're planning on playing versus matches against local friends, go right ahead. But everyone else should probably wait a bit for a lower price, another set of online-focused patches, or both.

King of Fighters XII is fun to play when you're fighting a buddy locally, but everything else about the game is seriously lacking. This is not the franchise rebirth that SNK was hoping for, as smoothly animated sprites can't make up for the bare-bones presentation and broken online support. Even though this might seem like a must-buy for hardcore King of Fighters fans, I still wholly encourage gamers to pick up a copy of BlazBlue instead. It's a far superior game.

At the bottom of the hill is KoF XII’s price. Had this been a fairly polished fighter with a bit more online functionality and a $40 price tag, KoF XII coulda’ been a contenda’. There’s just not enough value here at a $60 premium price point—a price that’s especially painful when considering some of its anomalies. Hardcore fans will obviously want to check The King of Fighters XII out and get into some online tournaments (after things are cleaned up a bit). The rest of you simply looking for old-school fighting flavor in new-school HD digs will be much better served by Street Fighter IV or Calamity Trigger (with a $60 Limited Edition, by the way).

The King of Fighters XII is a brilliant fighting game at the core, courtesy of its fantastic new graphics engine and a solid 2D combat mechanics but the home version really could have been so much more.

Because of the extremely shallow single player options available and the broken nature of the multiplayer, there really is very little of value in The King of Fighters XII. The game may give you a few hours of nostalgic fun if you are a long time fan of the series, but the only way that it will overcome much older versions of the game is if you happen to be extraordinarily interested in the graphical update. In all likelihood, it will leave you disappointed. The King of Fighters XII is a title that tries to go back to the basics for a storied franchise, but instead of offering an accessible game, the developers deliver an entry that feels stripped down and shallow.

King of Fighters XII isn't a bad game per se but and should please die hard fans of the series who will lap up anything SNK throw at them. Yet anyone else is going to perhaps look at the game in disgust and see a title that should have been placed on the XBLA at a low price point and been done with it. Quite frankly the game does not stack up well against other beat em ups simply due to the sheer lack of in game content. Gamers expect more these days and when you have such a bare bones game it's hard to recommend a purchase. Only for true 2D beat em up and SNK fans.

KOF12 doesn't feel like a KOF game. Its signature rushdown playstyle is present to some degree, though the new mechanics, the guard attack and critical counters, prevent an overly offensive strategy. The roster feels slightly off, with half the cast exceptionally developed, and the other half incredibly anemic. And KOF12 fails to seize the windfall in online matchmaking. It uses an archaic, even backwards, system that serves only to frustrate the player. Polish, revision, and perhaps another rebirth can help restore the KOF legacy and, hopefully, advance the series to its next stage.

As you can see, KoF XII keeps flipping back and forth, coupling every good development with a bad one. KoF XII is exactly as average as you can be, being neither wholly unplayable, nor the best of the best. It's as if the King of Fighters is continuing to tell a story that no one really cares to hear anymore. The bottom line is that if you are a huge fan of SNK and the KoF saga, you'll likely love this game, faults and all. If you're a casual gamer with any interest in fighters, there are plenty of other options available that are better and will hold your attention longer, such as Street Fighter IV.

Sitting down longer with the game will probably make you yearn for more offline modes or your favorite KOF characters that didn't make the cut. And trying to play the game online--at least at the time of this writing--will probably make you want to stick to playing the game offline, with friends who are sitting next to you. If you're lucky enough to have an in-house fighting game competition, you're probably in the best position to enjoy KOFXII because despite the roster and gameplay changes, the game still offers a decent head-to-head experience with bona fide new gameplay features and some overhauled characters with interesting new abilities. If you're not, you might have trouble justifying the decision to pick up this game when there are other excellent 2D fighting games out there with stronger online multiplayer, more characters, and more offline content.

This is a sad day for The King of Fighters. The combat is as taught as ever, but everything else is a comedic misinterpretation of “less is more.” Unless you have a friend aching to hold the second controller, the lag-ridden multiplayer and pitifully skeletal single-player experiences only serve to stain the memories of this beloved series.

Don't get me wrong, the game does handle fairly well, and with friends this could be a fun one to share, but single-player is worse than most. Combine a three-player team with the smallest roster KoF has ever had, and you'll have your faves chosen like a routine in no time. I don't know what I would want in a true re-launching for this series, but this isn't it. As a fanboy, I'm crying on my keyboard.

King of Fighters XII's biggest problem is just how bland the game is. The single player's fairly forgettable and ridiculously easy, and the online is completely useless. Combine this with the fact that there are two other terrific fighting games out there for the same platforms, and you get a game that's really hard to recommend to anybody. I guess it's back to Street Fighter IV for me.

With only 22 characters, no unlockables, and a broken multiplayer component, King of Fighters isn’t just a feature-poor package, it’s an unfinished product. SNK Playmore is likely banking on their DLC packages to flesh out the roster and future patches to make the online functionality…functional, but charging $60 for an essentially incomplete game is a travesty. It doesn’t look anywhere near as good as promised, it features a paltry selection of fighters, no story, and one functioning game mode. The core of a good 2D fighter exists within the game, but there are so many inexcusable problems that King of Fighters XII shouldn’t be a purchase consideration for anyone, fan of the series or not.

The only way you're likely to get any enjoyment out of King of Fighters XII is through local matches with friends -- and if you're that attached to SNK's characters, it is a decent 2D fighter that does all the basic things that you expect a 2D fighter to do. But with so many better options to choose from, why would you want to subject yourself to this?